MEYER CLAIR O 2/3 P 51B/C MUSTANG — Marion, SC

What happened

The private pilot's wife reported that he planned to conduct taxi tests in the airplane on the day of the accident but that he did not intend to fly it. According to her recount of the accident, she observed the pilot taxi the airplane to the beginning of the runway where it idled for several minutes while the pilot waited for another airplane to depart. The pilot then initiated a takeoff roll and the airplane lifted off the ground about midfield with the landing gear retracted. As the airplane climbed, it "entered a sharp left turn," which was followed by a nose down dive. Another witness reported that he observed the pilot complete an engine run-up and then take off and enter a "shallow" climb. About 1,000 ft above the ground, the airplane entered a nose-down descent, and then impacted a corn field about 1 nautical mile from the airport.

Postaccident examination of the airframe did not reveal any anomalies that would have precluded normal operation. The engine did not display any evidence of lubrication distress or internal scoring indicative of an engine seizure or other catastrophic failure. Additionally, the witnesses reported no interruptions in engine power throughout the flight. Although these findings suggest that the airplane was under power, the investigation was unable to determine how much power the engine was producing at the time of the accident.

The pilot was issued a Federal Aviation Administration third-class medical certificate about 4 months before the accident. On his application for the certificate, he reported no significant medical conditions, no prescription medications, and no visits to other healthcare providers. Records obtained from his personal physician indicated that he had a history of diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, coronary artery disease, valvular disease, and cardiac arrhythmias. In addition, his medical history included hospital admissions for coronary artery bypass surgery, gallbladder removal, and quarterly visits for several years before the accident. The pilot had also been prescribed several prescription medications to control these conditions; only one of which, a sleep aid, was identified during postaccident toxicological testing. These findings indicate that the pilot was not compliant with his treatment regimen around the time of the accident.

The pilot's cardiovascular conditions and his failure to use the prescribed medications to treat them put him at high risk for a number of incapacitating symptoms that would not have been evident during the autopsy, including severe chest pain and shortness of breath from angina or a heart attack, sudden inability to use the arm and leg on one side (stroke), and sudden loss of consciousness from a hemorrhagic stroke or arrhythmia. It is likely that the pilot was incapacitated at the time of the accident due to his cardiovascular disease, which resulted in his loss of airplane control.

An editorial "what led to it / how to avoid it" analysis for this accident is generated separately and will appear here.